SELMA, Ala. – She was just 11 years old but determined to join protesters who were preparing to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and march to Montgomery.

Told it could be dangerous and ordered to stay home, Frankie Hutchins listened obediently but still didn’t like it that Sunday afternoon in 1965.

As things turned out, her mother, Ruby Walker, represented the family and became involved in one of the most dramatic moments in American history.

It would be known as “Bloody Sunday” as a result of actions by Alabama State Troopers, who routed 600 peaceful marchers with tear gas and billy clubs.

“My mom was in everything back in those days and was arrested,” recalled Hutchins, who later became an activist herself.

Hutchins may not have been able to take part in what happened on March 7, 1965, but, at the age of 61, she wouldn’t miss a reenactment for anything in the world.

That’s why she waited patiently as Hollywood came calling and amateur actors received instructions at the apex of the Pettus Bridge last week to film a scene for the movie “Selma.”

“We lived on Water Avenue back then and I was outside playing when I could hear the screaming,” she said of the mayhem on the bridge. “It was horrible and I knew my mother was part of what was happening.”

Now an official at Selma University, as well as a local pastor, Hutchins makes sure today’s beneficiaries of yesterday’s sacrifices understand what happened in the 1960s when her parents fought for equal rights.

She did her part, too, becoming one of the first black students at Selma High School when A.G. Parrish High and R.B. Hudson High merged.